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2022年07月01日
Recollection from Episode 70 to Episode 117
Continuation of episodes 1 to 69
Episode 70
The upper part of the well was easily roofed to prevent rain and dew.
His mother and Mr. Sasaki's wife washed ingredients such as vegetables and fish around the well, washed the dishes after meals, and did the laundry there.
In the summer his mother put a laundry basin there and drew water from the well to make him "gyozui(=quick bath)".
Just a short distance away from the well where the water flows, there was a puddle just dug up the soil.
The water used to wash food and clothes was stored in the puddle.
Then, the drainage was naturally infiltrated into the soil.
For that reason, the water in the puddle was dirty water.
Therefore, many earthworms lived in the soil of the puddle.
He fished in the nearby river, but the bait was the earthworms that lived in this puddle.
There was always plenty of fishing bait beside the kitchen.
Episode 71
At that time, most households did not have a refrigerator, so it was not possible to store food for a long time.
Housewives at the time bought the amount of food they needed every day and used it up that day.
There was a smoke exhaust window on the wall of the kitchen that his mother used every day to cook her family's food.
The smoke exhaust window was made by sticking the boards vertically, but in order to create a space for the smoke to come out naturally, the structure was such that the boards were stuck and not stuck.
The smoke exhaust window had a simple structure in which the width of one board was staggered and smoke came out from there.
Of course, the smoke exhaust window was closed when the fire was not used, but the gap was still quite large, and the cold winter air came in mercilessly.
The winter heating of his house was a charcoal brazier and "chanchanko".
There was no ”kotatsu”.
There were gaps throughout the house where cold air came in.
The cold winter in that house must have been quite severe for his weak father.
Episode 72
To the east of his house was the Matsuo family's house on the other side of a field.
Mr. Matsuo's couple, two children and Mr. Matsuo's parents lived in the house.
Mr. Matsuo was a gentle person and was an employee working for one of the leading companies in Japan.
Matsuo's parents were also mild-mannered.
There was a big shepherd in Mr. Matsuo's house.
In the rural city where he lived, western dogs could be seen on TV but rarely in the real world.
The land of Mr. Matsuo's house was not large, but there was a sturdy kennel on the land.
The front of the shepherd kennel had a metal grid.
He didn't approach Mr. Matsuo's house because he was afraid of the ferocious shepherd, but when he had no choice but to go, the shepherd barked and moved violently to the right and left in the kennel, making him very nervous.
He didn't know why the mild-mannered Mr. Matsuo had a ferocious shepherd, or whether it was Mr. Matsuo's wife's favorite.
He had never seen Mr. Matsuo take a walk with a shepherd.
Episode 73
Mr. Matsuo's wife always performed a dance at the "keirokai(=meeting to show respect for the aged)" held at the community hall every year.
The "keirokai" was, of course, a place for entertainment with respect for the aged in the area, but it was also a place for presentations by amateur entertainers in the area.
Therefore, there were many people on the stage of the keirokai, and there were many spectators, old and young, men and women, and it was a very lively event.
Mr. Matsuo's wife was not dancing in the category of ordinary Japanese dance, but was dancing "matatabimono" (= people who were gamblers and entertainers who traveled all over Japan during the Edo period).
Mr. Matsuo's wife's stage costumes were wig (= tyonmage), dotyukappa (= rain gear, winter clothes, cloak used by samurai, etc.), huriwakenimotsu (= small bag for travel used in the Edo period), kyahan (=gaiter) and warazi (= straw sandals), and there was a sword on her waist.
Mr. Matsuo's wife danced a powerful man's dance that could not be imagined from her small body.
Mr. Matsuo's wife danced in a cool man's appearance, and a shout flew from here and there.
The combination of Mr. Matsuo and his wife still has some strange feeling in him.
Episode 74
Free movies were sometimes shown at community center.
Of course, the movie was a monochrome movie.
Color movies were just beginning to appear, but at that time color movies were called "sotenensyoku eiga (= total natural color movies)".
However, "total natural color" was soon replaced by the word "color".
The contents of the free movies at the community center were also mostly "matatabimono(= people who were gamblers and entertainers who traveled all over Japan during the Edo period)".
His father had a deep knowledge of music, but his father liked the popular singer "Taro Shoji".
"Taro Shoji" was an intelligent singer who was well-versed in Marxian economics, although he had distinctive features such as wearing Lloyd's glasses and a tailcoat, and singing in an upright and immovable posture.
Among the many hit songs of "Taro Shoji", there was a song of the story of a yakuza boss called "Akagi no Komoriuta".
Somehow we can see the tendency of Japanese entertainment tastes at that time.
♬ Akagi-yama where the man's righteousness feels the man's righteousness and the spirits hit each other.… ♬
The song of the story of the boss of the yakuza, which is not suitable for the identity of "Taro Shoji", was such lyrics.
Episode 75
He remembers that the free movie at the community center was a movie by a beautiful actor named Kokichi Takada.
The crowd at the community center gladly applauded as the film began to spin, making a peculiar noise of "chili chili chili".
Kokichi Takada was a star of the Shochiku movie.
At the opening of the Shochiku movie, the "Shochiku movie" logo appeared against the backdrop of the divine Mt. Fuji covered with snow above the clouds.
Also, in the case of Toei movies, the Toei logo gradually became larger from the distance of the angry waves that rushed to the rough shore.
As a kid, he watched free movies at the community center as something unusual and special.
The community center had an old wooden floor, and the audience sat on the floor to watch the movie, so there was no fixed number of people, so many people enjoyed the movie.
He also remembers a free movie in a nearby reinforced concrete public housing, using the concrete walls instead of screens.
They were just a little entertainment when many Japanese lived hard at the time when there was no entertainment other than radio.
Episode 76
The community center would have literally functioned as a place for local residents to interact.
Calligraphy class were also held once a week at the community center.
The teacher always came to the community center with his calligraphy tools on his bicycle.
The teacher was a kind person, and he did not give strict guidance, and he attended the calligraphy class without being particularly conscious of his progress.
The teacher silently corrected the letters written by the students with a red ink brush.
His sister didn't even attend this calligraphy class.
However, it seemed that his sister had no desire to attend calligraphy class.
The picture-story show came to the community center.
The picture-story show also came to a nearby public housing.
The picture-story show was selling Japanese cheap candy before the performance.
The uncle who plays a picture-story show covered the living expenses of selling this candy.
He always bought starch syrup.
The uncle of the picture-story show sold starch syrup attached to the tips of two sticks.
When the starch syrup was mixed with two sticks, the transparent starch syrup took in air and became muddy.
Episode 77
There was Mr. Yoshida's house near the community center.
Mr. Yoshida had three sons, and he often played with them.
Mr. Yoshida was a quiet person, and he looked like an adult who was serious about his work.
Mr. Yoshida's house was built facing Bus Street, but at one point Mr. Yoshida added a small square building using civil engineering formwork in front of his house.
Mr. Yoshida must have found a bathtub for Goemon bath somewhere and bought it or got it for free.
Then he assembled the civil engineering formwork that he used for his work and made a bathroom in no time.
He had never taken Mr. Yoshida's bath.
He went to a public bath a little away from his house.
He remembers only once when he went to the public bath with his father.
Actually, he may have been to the public bath with his father more than once, but he remembers only once.
It was winter.
He washed his body with soap and finally tried to soak his body in hot water, but his father said, "It's not good yet," and told him to warm up more.
He wanted to get out of the hot water early, but his father wouldn't forgive him.
The scene still comes to his mind 60 years later.
He remembers his father at that time when he is taking a shower.
And he guess why his father told him to warm his body so much and then get out of the bath.
He somehow now understands the reason.
Episode 78
He has only one memory of the public bath with his father, but since his father died early, there are several other events of one-time memory.
One of them is his father's words in the futon.
His father had tuberculosis and seemed to keep away from him.
At one point his father invited him into his father's huton
Perhaps his father was quite sad and invited him into the futon at this time.
"I can't always do this because I have a chest illness ..."
His father hugged him and sneaked into the huton and whispered.
" I want to do this for a while today.
Son, understand my thoughts.
Son, remember this time with me. "
Even now, 60 years later, he still holds in his heart the words of his father's regrets.
Is it a poor household because his father can't work with a sick body?
Is it painful for his father to die and part with his wife and children?
It's beyond imagination.
Episode 79
His mother was a person who had little "educational guidance" with one exception.
His mother wanted a smart child, so she married a smart man (his father).
But his mother gave little "educational guidance" to him or his sister.
It's easy to imagine that she lived a life she couldn't afford to support her sick husband and her two children.
One day he quarreled with an older boy in the neighborhood and returned crying.
His mother said, "Don't lose the fight and cry and come home."
And she once scolded him violently, saying, "Go back again to win the fight and make your opponent cry."
Episode 80
She may have been angry with her son who came home crying after losing the fight, even though she was fighting so hard in her hard life that she cried in her heart every day.
He thinks it was a strong message from his mother's life, saying, "Son, be a stronger person."
He hasn't lost a fight ever since.
After that, he quarreled with his classmates a couple of times before graduating from elementary school.
It was a series of victories.
There is no doubt that the strong guidance of his mother at that time had an effect.
And even now, the teaching of his mother at that time is deep in his soul.
Episode 81
After that his mother did not preach to him at all.
His mother was born in 1923 and died in 2014.
She passed away at the age of 91.
He was undoubtedly loved by his mother.
Episode 82
He rarely talks to anyone about his mother.
He connected the words, saying that he wouldn't talk about it in the future.
And he also said that this was the last.
"One day, when four family members were eating, his mother suddenly shouted and threw the bowl in her hand.
She was definitely angry with her husband and threw the bowl, but she threw the bowl fairly violently in the direction that the bowl did not hit her husband.
His mother's voice was only once, only for that moment.
I have no memory of how the couple's relationship was restored after that. "
Since he was a boy like "Yumeno Kyusaku (mentioned above)", he had not heard the story between the couple before the incident, so he says that only the event at that moment was strongly remembered.
"Fortunately, I have no memory of my parents' quarrels other than this incident (probably there were several others just because he didn't know ...)," he said, and then he shed tears.
Episode 83
The entrance of Mr. Sasaki's rental house was unsightly.
There was a sliding door where the family went in and out.
When they opened and closed the sliding door, it made a rattling noise and moved awkwardly.
When they opened the sliding door and stepped into the house, it was a dirt floor.
They had to go up to the tatami room from the dirt floor, but the underfloor was directly connected to the dirt floor, and the underfloor was structured so that they could go in and out at any time.
No one went under the floor, but some of his and his sister's milk teeth were thrown under the floor.
The lower teeth were thrown on the roof and the upper teeth were thrown under the floor.
It was a superstitious act of hoping that the missing milk teeth would have strong permanent teeth.
Above the space where he and his sister threw their teeth, there was a room that the family used as a living room.
Episode 84
There was a large piece of paper on the wall of the so-called living room above the space where he and his sister threw their missing milk teeth.
It was written by his father summarizing a small part of the "musical grammar" so that his younger sister could understand it.
His father did not write the scale as "Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do", but as "Ha-ni-ho-he-to-i-ro-ha".
In Japan, the name of the sound of music is generally called " Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do".
However, the name of this sound is not unique to Japan.
" Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do" was originally an Italian note name.
In fact, historically, different note name have been used in Japanese.
That was "Ha-ni-ho-he-to-i-ro-ha".
In other words, "Ha-ni-ho-he-to-i-ro-ha" is a Japanese version of " Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do ".
Episode 85
There was a handwritten staff notation on the paper.
Tadpoles were swimming in the staff notation, but tadpoles were swimming in an orderly manner.
In the "Summary Musical Grammar" written by his father, there were academic explanations such as 1-point C-sound, 2-point C-sound, or C-sound.
To put it simply, the one-point C sound is the first sound we learn in Japanese elementary school music classes.
The two-point C sound is one octave higher, and the C sound is one octave lower.
Looking at what his father wrote, he and his sister could understand the meaning of the treble clef and understand both G major and F major.
Furthermore, both a major key and a minor key were explained.
Of course, a quarter note and a eighth note were also explained, covering the academic and rudimentary knowledge of music for his sister.
There were no picture books or novels in his house (as mentioned above), so what was written on the paper was indeed a part of his father's head edited for his sister who is now learning music.
Episode 86
His father seemed to like music a lot and was probably studying.
He was born in 1920, living 100 years ago, so the world must have been much more feudal and closed.
It is difficult for modern people to imagine discrimination and prejudice against art and the kind of artists.
His father was born in that era, but there is no doubt that he had a keen interest in music.
At one point his father told him this.
"One day I heard that a playhouse was built in the town and an orchestra would come there, so I went there with my notebook and pencil.
I recorded the rhythm played by the orchestra in a notebook beside the stage. "
His memory is inaccurate, but it may have been a "melody" rather than a "rhythm", or both.
He couldn't remember the scene properly and still doesn't know the exact meaning of his father's words.
However, his father was quite interested in music, and his father probably listened to professional music, which is rarely heard in the countryside.
His father also played musical instruments on a daily basis and must have studied musical grammar.
Episode 87
At one point, it was in his memory that his sister was not yet in elementary school, his father bought a xylophone and brought it home.
Even though it was a xylophone, it had a metal tube (resonance pipe) under the keyboard to improve the quality of the sound.
He thinks his father was in the final game of his life.
With all the life left of his father, a fierce lesson of xylophone to his sister began.
It was in the category of ordinary children's lessons at the beginning.
Of course it was clear that his father had given proper guidance to his sister's age and skill level.
However, as his sister improved, his father became less satisfied with the xylophone itself, and his father's guidance to his sister became even more enthusiastic.
Episode 88
At one point, a "luxury xylophone" arrived that was not very suitable for the house where his family lived.
It wasn't a xylophone, but a marimba, which was totally different from the xylophone his sister was playing before.
In Japan, both xylophone and marimba are called "Mokkin", but they are the same type of instrument, but they are completely different instruments.
The xylophone makes a high-pitched tree sound, so audience can hear the sound even if performers play it mixed with an orchestra or brass band.
On the other hand, the marimba is an instrument with a soft and rich sound, so it is intended for solo performance.
His father said that the material for the keyboard was the roots of the native roses of the Rocky Mountains.
The marimba was such a magnificent instrument that he couldn't believe it was so common in Japan at that time.
The money needed to buy a marimba must have been given by his father's mother.
At that time, ordinary households didn't have a piano, but he still thinks that his father must have been able to buy a good piano with the money he paid to the marimba.
Episode 89
Why did his father choose "marimba"?
The reason must have been that the piano is a widely used instrument and the teaching method is established, but marimba can be taught by his father himself because the teaching method is not established.
Buying a piano is a temporary expense, but his father may have thought that his economy wouldn't be able to cover the monthly fees and other expenses.
His younger sister at the time was a girl like "Yumeno Kyusaku (mentioned above)" more than him, and the newly given expensive instrument was totally disproportionate to her.
The height of the marimba's keyboard was the height of his sister's face, and it was physically impossible for her to play the marimba.
His father ordered a carpenter to make a wooden stand with a width of marimba and a height of about 30 cm.
It had a smooth surface like foreign wood, but it was made of a thick piece of wood, and it was a sturdy platform that wouldn't break easily even if his sister moved violently while playing.
From this time on, a fierce special training by his father like Ashura began.
Episode 90
A special training for his sister was carried out every night after a meal.
Many homes did not have air conditioners at the time, so on summer nights the windows of the house were opened to let in the cool breeze outside the house.
So the sound of the marimba played by his sister every night was heard by many of his neighbors.
In addition, it was always a quiet night as there were no cars running at night.
So many people in the neighborhood knew about the marimba played by his sister.
Episode 91
At that time, his sister was in the second grade of elementary school.
Great classical music such as "For Elise", "Turkish March" and "Ren of the Donau River" played by such a girl continued every night.
He also wonders if classical music scores for marimba solos were on the market at the time.
In his imagination, his father had arranged the score written for the piano for the marimba.
His father's face when he was teaching the marimba was scaryly serious and devilish.
He thinks his father had an extraordinary determination to make his daughter a player of this instrument while he was alive.
His younger sister sometimes suddenly woke up in the middle of the night and played the marimba in a state of falling asleep.
She was nervous and practicing hard until just before her bedtime, so the uplifting state must have continued after she fell asleep.
Episode 92
His father had a Bengalese finch when his father was teaching his sister marimba.
A Bengalese finch with a mixture of white and black feathers, with a tiny object shaped like a white flower on its head.
From another point of view, there was such a cute object on the bird's head, like a plate on the head of a Kappa(=River imp).
The Bengalese finch was so accustomed because his father loved it so much.
The Bengalese finch flew around the house, making the sound of its feathers.
And when his father extended his finger into the air, the Bengalese finch flew to that finger and grabbed it.
Episode 93
The food for the Bengalese finch was millet.
His father put the millet with thin skin in an empty 1 sho bottle (=1.8 liters) and inserted the drumstick upside down to poke the millet.
The drumstick was used by his father as a tool to hit the desk to get the rhythm when his sister practiced the marimba.
But his father later bought a metronome.
His father used the drumstick, which was no longer needed, as a tool for preparing bird food.
When the millet was struck by a drumstick, it made a "crispy" sound.
The millet was not crushed and only the thin skin was conveniently peeled off.
Occasionally, the millet with skin was fed to the Bengalese finch as it was, but a lot of millet skin accumulated in the cage, and every time the Bengalese finch flapped, the millet skin flew out of the cage.
Bengalese finch dexterously used a bill to peel the millet skin and ate only the fruit.
The millet skin was removed while spinning around in the bill of the Bengalese finch.
Episode 94
His father lost his own father early and was unable to enroll in (prewar) middle school for financial reasons.
So he went to a short-term private school specializing in office work and became an employee of the Japanese National Railways.
His father was drafted by the Japanese Army when he was an employee of the Japanese National Railways.
There was a picture of his father wearing military uniform and laughing in front of a tank.
His father didn't talk about the war other than his " passing the physical examination as a Grade One conscript ".
His father in the picture certainly had a good body.
It was far from the image of a lean Japanese living during the war, when food was scarce.
His father didn't talk about the specific war, but it may just be that he doesn't remember.
Episode 95
His father was disappointed that when he returned from the battlefield, the fine Japanese sword he had at home was gone.
It is doubtful that his father's mother, who had been married from another family, certainly understood the meaning of the Japanese sword that has been passed down from ancient times.
His father's mother was a serious Japanese, so she seems to have offered the Japanese sword at home for the emperor.
It was due to the Metals Recovery Ordinance that his father's mother offered the treasure sword of the house.
The Metals Recovery Ordinance was an edict enacted for the purpose of recovering metals owned by the public and private sectors in order to make up for the shortage of metal resources required for weapons production from the Sino-Japanese War to the Pacific War.
In other words, it was the command of the emperor, the god.
His father said that his father's ancestors were warriors of the Heike clan, who fled to this land after losing the battle between the Genji clan and the Heike clan.
"In the Edo period, my ancestors were shoya(=village headman), and my family was a branch of that," his father said.
There was a fine sword that proved the history of the family, but it seemed that his father's mother offered it to the army while his father went to war.
Episode 96
And his father met and married his mother, who was introduced by a classmate after the war.
His mother's ideal marriage partner was a "smart person," but perhaps his mother also liked the appearance of his father.
His father had been steadily promoted to work for the Japanese National Railways while enjoying baseball and music during his newlywed era, but at one point he retired.
His father, who left the Japanese National Railways, built a new house on a part of his wife's parents' land.
His father boasted that the new house was entirely made of hinoki cypress lumber.
The cost of building the house seemed to be covered by severance pay.
His father wasn't mandatory retirement, so the severance pay was high enough to build his parents' new home, but it's still questionable.
His mother's parents' home was burned by the American air raid, so there must have been enough ground to build his parents' home.
Episode 97
His mother started running a popular dining hall there.
His mother cooked and served herself.
He wore "Kintaro's bib", which was often used to prevent the baby's belly from getting cold at that time, and sat in a corner of the popular dining hall to watch his mother and customers.
The toddler who always wore "Kintaro's bib" was so lovely that the customers were very happy and he was the mascot of the popular dining hall.
His mother was so enthusiastic about her work that she didn't seem to be able to take care of him and was injured by the rubber ring holding his socks digging into the flesh of his leg.
The wound was noticed by the time he was conscious and asked his mother to find out the cause.
He doesn't confirm the scar because it's about himself, but it's still clearly below the knee of his left foot.
Right in front of his mother's popular dining hall was the city's most advanced and large-scale "central hospital," so the popular dining hall thrived with its inpatients, their families, or hospital personnel.
Episode 98
The popular dining hall run by his mother was so prosperous that the household was good enough to live.
However, his father, who left the Japanese National Railways, did not find a job in a local city, and even if he did, it was not the company he wanted.
Although the family economy is fine, he speculates that his father, still in early thirties, wasn't happy with the situation.
His family stopped the thriving popular dining hall and headed for Osaka.
His sister was born in Osaka.
His sister was born 22 months after him, but maybe his sister was already in her mother when the family headed for Osaka.
Episode 99
His father named his younger sister, born in Osaka, "Miho".
He heard from his father that there was a fine musician named "Miho" when his sister was born.
It is clear that his father wanted his sister to have a future like that musician .
The character "mi" is a composite Chinese character of "sheep" and "large", meaning "beautiful" because ancient Chinese people felt that a large sheep was beautiful.
The character "ho" is a composite Chinese character of "rice" and "grace", which means the part where the fruit of the stem of the grain bears.
Therefore, "Miho" brings to mind the image of "beautiful rice ears".
This is a new sensation as a girl's name in post-war Japan, giving a glimpse of his father's feelings for his own daughter.
Episode 100
The misfortune of the family began in Osaka.
His father worked for a company in Osaka, where he got tuberculosis.
He hasn't heard the cause clearly, but imagines it was probably overwork, malnutrition, or both.
Tuberculosis was the leading cause of death in Japan during the 15 years from 1935 to 1950.
The disease, also known as "Illness of the exiled country" has declined dramatically since then, but tuberculosis was the greatest failure of his father's life.
And four of him, his parents and his sister, leave Osaka.
His memory begins shortly after his family returned from Osaka.
Episode 101
His words when he came back from Osaka seemed to be completely Osaka dialect.
He heard that he found a dragonfly that he had never seen in the city of Osaka and shouted "a small helicopter is flying" in the Osaka dialect.
His memory of his father begins in the hospital bed, but is a rather vague memory.
He imagines that his father had been hospitalized and discharged repeatedly.
And his father was riding a "Batabata" when he was discharged from the hospital.
As the name suggests, "Batabata" was a powered bicycle that made a "batabata" sound.
"Batabata" was a reliable companion to his father who had lost his strength.
His father wore a thick brown leather jumper in the winter and was riding a "Batabata".
Episode 102
No doubt his father thought he couldn't live long.
His father was worried about the life of his wife and child after he died.
The Japanese National Railways was a large company run by the Japanese government at the time, so it had a welfare pension system, but his father's working period was not enough to qualify for the "survivor's pension".
His father joined the Asahi Shimbun to meet the shortage period.
He doesn't know what his father was doing in the Asahi Shimbun, but at that time his father was riding a "Batabata".
The "Batabata" was probably the "Batabata" owned by the Asahi Shimbun.
Episode 103
The motorized bicycle Batabata, which was developed by Honda's founder Soichiro Honda in the 1945's and became a big hit, was manufactured using the generator engine of the old military transceiver.
This Batabata was the beginning of the history of "Honda," which became a major company in the world.
In 1946, a bicycle ran through the city of Hamamatsu with a loud noise.
There was a woman in Monpe on the bicycle, who was Mr. Honda's wife.
A hot water bottle was attached to the rear of the bicycle, which contained pine oil instead of gasoline.
This is the first "vehicle" made by Soichiro Honda.
This bicycle with an engine became very popular in the burnt field, and the engine made a loud "batabata" sound, so it got its name.
Batabata that his father was riding also made a loud engine noise, but it was nice.
The appearance of his father wearing a leather jacket and going to work on a Batabata was cool.
However, his father was already weak, so he must have endured the cold of winter.
His father must have endured the cold to make up for the shortage of the "survivor's pension".
Episode 104
It was around 4 o'clock in the early morning of January 7, 1962, when he was 10 years old.
He was awakened by his mother.
"Go to the hospital and bring Dr. Tanimura," his mother said.
His father lay suffocating in the futon.
He saw the situation and understood his mother's order.
The distance from his house to Tanimura Hospital was about 2km.
There was no phone in his house or in the neighborhood.
At that time, cars were still unpurchasable to the common people, so roads were undeveloped and there were almost no traffic signal.
He was a timid boy who was afraid of darkness like other boys.
His sense of mission outweighed his cowardice because of his mother's an unusual attitude.
Under the pitch-dark night sky, he left the house on a bicycle.
Episode 105
He called out to the nurse in the building from the small courtyard of the hospital.
He thought there was a nurse there because only one room was lit in the hospital.
Two nurses on the night shift opened the window and listened to him.
The two nurses were clearly confused as they listened to the child's speech.
He has no memory of how he communicated the crisis to the two nurses.
Dr. Tanimura came to his house shortly after he returned home.
In fact, he felt that he had been waiting for a doctor for a long time, and he was really worried about whether doctor would really come.
Episode 106
Dr. Tanimura came.
His hard-working request was passed on to the two nurses, who also told the doctor who was supposed to be sleeping.
The doctor gave a camphor injection.
After that, the doctor only looked at his father, and he didn't seem to be enthusiastic about his efforts.
Perhaps his father was in a critical situation that even a doctor couldn't handle
His father didn't say anything at the time of his death.
His father must have had a lot to say, but at the time of his death he had no words.
Even his father had already lost that power.
His father died.
Episode 107
The funeral was attended by his parents' brothers and sisters and their spouses.
He suspects that they gave kind words to his poor mother and her poor two children.
But soon the harsh life of her mother and her two children began.
Meanwhile, a relative of Mr. Sasaki, a name fortune-teller (mentioned above), fortune-telled his father's name.
And the bogus fortune-teller concluded that his father's name was ominous and short-lived.
And the fortune-teller said that his sister's name was also ominous.
He is a relative of that "Sho-chan" who was renamed from "Naoki" to "Shoich".
His mother, who had just lost her husband and was feeling weak, changed the name of her daughter as recommended by the fortune-teller.
Episode 108
No one knows if his sister was due to the name change, but 60 years after that, she is still alive and well.
On the other hand, the result of fortune-telling about his name was that it was not bad enough to change his name.
Naming a baby born in this world is called "meimei" in Japanese.
It is literally the name of life.
Rather, he thinks it is the name of the soul based on his experience of living for 70 years.
In Buddhism, "Dharma name" is given as the posthumous name.
Being given a Dharma name means "become a disciple of the Buddha and go to the Paradise Jodo without hesitation."
And the Dharma name is also written on the mortuary tablets and tombstones.
He follows the Buddhist tradition of his parents' Dharma names, but thinks that if the soul of a person is immortal, the name after death should also use the name of this world.
He doesn't think that many modern Japanese people will be happy in the afterlife with the Dharma name.
However, as a 10-year-old child, he accepted even the meaning of his sister's name change with little understanding.
Episode 109
A year after his father died, he was in fifth grade in elementary school.
At the graduation ceremony that year, he read "Soji(=Words to send graduates)" as a representative of current students.
That meant that the purpose of his mother's marriage to his father became a reality.
However, his mother worked hard every day, she never came on his or his sister's sankanbi(=the day parents observe their children at school).
His homeroom teacher complained to him when he was in the fifth grade of elementary school.
"What an indifferent parent your parent is," said the female teacher.
This female teacher loved him so much that she had invited him to a newly-married family with her husband.
She holds a stake in a bus company that currently dominates the local transportation industry because of the promising future, and she talked about the economy, assuming he had the same knowledge as her.
Even so, his mother was doing her best to support the family's household budget.
So he didn't complain to his mother, nor did he convey the words of his teacher to his mother.
The female teacher would have frankly vomit her heart to him.
At that time, the women were at home, and there was no place for women to work except for a bar for men.
Episode 110
Due to such a musical environment, he has always had the highest evaluation of music at school, from elementary school to his final education.
Of course he didn't study for the exam, but the paper exam for music until the final school was almost perfect.
When he was in sixth grade, he was called by a music teacher.
The teacher ordered him to join the chorus club and play the contrabass in the instrumental ensemble club.
The teacher was single but enthusiastic about music education, and the instrumental ensemble club of the elementary school where he works won the prefectural competition every year.
The instrumental ensemble club of the elementary school at that time had a large number of harmonica, and was composed of inexpensive musical instruments as a whole.
Among them, the contrabass was a prominent and a little expensive instrument.
Episode 111
During the summer vacation of his sixth grade, a music teacher ordered him to attend a violin class.
The teacher paid for the class.
Of course he didn't have a violin and never played.
The violin was prepared for him by his teacher.
He thinks the teacher wanted him to study more music.
He was already vaguely thinking about going the musical path at that time.
At the entrance ceremony, the brass band club of the junior high school played "Kimigayo" and "School song".
He was very disappointed to hear it.
He decided that he couldn't spend the next three years after school in junior high school in this brass band.
Very ephemeral, his path to his own music was cut off at this entrance ceremony.
Episode 112
He began writing this memoir on August 12, 2021.
He had a new thought while writing his memoirs.
It's an idea of what would have happened to the lives of him and his sister if his father had bought a piano instead of a marimba at that time.
He was disappointed with the brass band club in junior high school and closed the way to music.
His sister was completely cut off from being a marimba player due to the death of her father.
He then spent his childhood hoping to play the piano several times.
He bought a piano when he grew up and had a family.
The purpose was to have his two daughters learn the piano, but at the same time he taught himself the piano.
Piano pieces played by the two daughters were heard every day around the altar where his father's soul was enshrined.
One of his daughters won the highest award at a junior high school piano competition in the prefecture.
He was thinking of sending his two daughters to a music college, but in an interview with a local newspaper when his daughter received the award, she said, "I want to be a veterinarian in the future."
He thought that the days of requiescats prayer for his father were over at this time.
He himself finished practicing the piano instruction book (Bayer).
Now he is the same as the average person when it comes to music.
In fact, he had another daughter after that.
He didn't want his youngest daughter to learn the piano.
In him, "the music memorial service" to his father was completely over.
Episode 113
He got to work in the next town at the beginning of April this year, shortly before his 70th birthday.
It's a job only in the morning.
He was asked to work by a certain person, and he was a little happy to be asked, so he received the request.
It was a promise of half a year's work, so he quit his job at the end of September and lived leisurely in an apartment near the sea.
However, his successor soon quit, and he was asked to work again.
So he has been going to work again from the beginning of December to the next town.
In fact, for the past two months he hasn't had a car and has been biking for various errands of his own.
But he thought it would be a little unreasonable for his age to commute to the next town in the north wind or in the cold rain.
So he bought an old, small and cheap car and started commuting in that car.
The duration of his work this time is expected to be two to three months, but he sincerely hopes that the term will end sooner.
He doesn't have much physical strength or energy anymore.
Episode 114
There is a chair beside his bed in the apartment room where he spends his days.
There are always seven books and a magazine on the chair.
The seven books and one magazine are his zayunosyo(=desk-side book).
The magazine was bought at a popular second-hand bookstore for 200 yen, and is a digest of news published by a famous American broadcaster, with a CD of about 70 minutes.
He doesn't know how many times he listened to the CD, but he always listens to it when he wakes up in the middle of the night or early in the morning, so he sleeps again while listening to the CD, so he rarely listens through the 70-minute content.
One of the seven books is an old book about the ancient history of the area where he lives.
A book published long before he was born, the paper quality is poor, the quality of the printing ink is poor, and there are some unreadable parts, but it is a book that has been studied from a broad perspective and scientifically.
In addition, since the Chinese characters is the old Chinese characters and not the "Toyō kanji(=regular-use Chinese characters)" currently used, it takes a little energy to read.
He finds great value in the history book and wants the people in the area where he lives to know what is written in it, so he uses the difficult Chinese characters as they are and distributes them over the Internet.
Of course he is sure that the book is not copyrighted.
Episode 115
This history book is a book compiled and published long ago, and since he reads it frequently, it puts stress on the body of the book.
He treated the book carefully so that it wouldn't be destroyed, but one day the history book was finally disassembled.
He got this book as a secondhand book because this history book was published long before he was born.
This secondhand book was priced at a justified value for this book
He hadn't fully used the value of the book when it broke.
So he somehow thought about reviving the body of the book.
He searched for paper of similar quality to the paper used in book.
Using paper and glue, he patiently regenerated from one detail to the next.
Repairing and refurbishing books was something he had never thought of before.
Episode 116
The other of the seven books is an English-Japanese dictionary that he bought at a second-hand bookstore (He bought the magazine mentioned above) for 500 yen.
Even if it is a book that someone bought once, we can buy the enormous amount of human knowledge and work written in the dictionary for only 500 yen.
The English-Japanese dictionary looked like new when he bought it, but now it's dirty and there are a lot of underlines drawn with a red pen when turning the page.
Just the other day, the spine of this English-Japanese dictionary came off, and several sheets of paper came off the main body of the dictionary.
He thought about going to a second-hand bookstore again to buy another English-Japanese dictionary, but now that it has become a very attached dictionary, he decided to repair it in the same way as a history book.
The repair of the dictionary was completed immediately because it was not difficult to repair than the history book.
When he picked up the dictionary, it was heavy and revived into a well-shaped dictionary.
He was very satisfied.
It seems that he wants his English-Japanese dictionary to be placed in his casket, just as his mother put the non-professional baseball uniform of the Japanese National Railways in his father's casket.
He thinks that even in the afterlife, if there is an English-Japanese dictionary, he can live without getting bored.
Episode 117
He studied at a national technical college a long time ago.
At that time, there was a young teacher who lectured on Western philosophy.
The teacher always carried an English-Japanese dictionary with him when he lectured on Western philosophy.
The teacher used the English-Japanese dictionary like a Japanese dictionary to show off his English ability.
For example, when the teacher described Socrates' wife, he opened Xanthippe in an English-Japanese dictionary.
And the teacher said, "She was the wife of Socrates, very noisy in legend, she was always supposed to be swearing at her husband, and she was said to be a bad wife."
"Christianity" was a big theme in the Western philosophy that the teacher lectured.
He actively read Western classic novels at the time.
At that time, "Christianity" was still a big issue.
He is reading the Bible now.
He wants to finish reading the Bible once by the time he dies.
The Bible is one of his seven books.
His mother often described his character as "yakan-tagiri".
"Yakan-tagiri" means that it gets hot quickly but cools down quickly.
He remains "yakan-tagiri" from an early age to the present age.
Will his enthusiasm cool down first, or will his life run out first?
Finally
Soon the death anniversary of his father, his sister's father, and his mother's husband will come.
It's been 60 years since that day.
That's all.
Recollection from Episode 70 to Episode 117
Episode 70
The upper part of the well was easily roofed to prevent rain and dew.
His mother and Mr. Sasaki's wife washed ingredients such as vegetables and fish around the well, washed the dishes after meals, and did the laundry there.
In the summer his mother put a laundry basin there and drew water from the well to make him "gyozui(=quick bath)".
Just a short distance away from the well where the water flows, there was a puddle just dug up the soil.
The water used to wash food and clothes was stored in the puddle.
Then, the drainage was naturally infiltrated into the soil.
For that reason, the water in the puddle was dirty water.
Therefore, many earthworms lived in the soil of the puddle.
He fished in the nearby river, but the bait was the earthworms that lived in this puddle.
There was always plenty of fishing bait beside the kitchen.
Episode 71
At that time, most households did not have a refrigerator, so it was not possible to store food for a long time.
Housewives at the time bought the amount of food they needed every day and used it up that day.
There was a smoke exhaust window on the wall of the kitchen that his mother used every day to cook her family's food.
The smoke exhaust window was made by sticking the boards vertically, but in order to create a space for the smoke to come out naturally, the structure was such that the boards were stuck and not stuck.
The smoke exhaust window had a simple structure in which the width of one board was staggered and smoke came out from there.
Of course, the smoke exhaust window was closed when the fire was not used, but the gap was still quite large, and the cold winter air came in mercilessly.
The winter heating of his house was a charcoal brazier and "chanchanko".
There was no ”kotatsu”.
There were gaps throughout the house where cold air came in.
The cold winter in that house must have been quite severe for his weak father.
Episode 72
To the east of his house was the Matsuo family's house on the other side of a field.
Mr. Matsuo's couple, two children and Mr. Matsuo's parents lived in the house.
Mr. Matsuo was a gentle person and was an employee working for one of the leading companies in Japan.
Matsuo's parents were also mild-mannered.
There was a big shepherd in Mr. Matsuo's house.
In the rural city where he lived, western dogs could be seen on TV but rarely in the real world.
The land of Mr. Matsuo's house was not large, but there was a sturdy kennel on the land.
The front of the shepherd kennel had a metal grid.
He didn't approach Mr. Matsuo's house because he was afraid of the ferocious shepherd, but when he had no choice but to go, the shepherd barked and moved violently to the right and left in the kennel, making him very nervous.
He didn't know why the mild-mannered Mr. Matsuo had a ferocious shepherd, or whether it was Mr. Matsuo's wife's favorite.
He had never seen Mr. Matsuo take a walk with a shepherd.
Episode 73
Mr. Matsuo's wife always performed a dance at the "keirokai(=meeting to show respect for the aged)" held at the community hall every year.
The "keirokai" was, of course, a place for entertainment with respect for the aged in the area, but it was also a place for presentations by amateur entertainers in the area.
Therefore, there were many people on the stage of the keirokai, and there were many spectators, old and young, men and women, and it was a very lively event.
Mr. Matsuo's wife was not dancing in the category of ordinary Japanese dance, but was dancing "matatabimono" (= people who were gamblers and entertainers who traveled all over Japan during the Edo period).
Mr. Matsuo's wife's stage costumes were wig (= tyonmage), dotyukappa (= rain gear, winter clothes, cloak used by samurai, etc.), huriwakenimotsu (= small bag for travel used in the Edo period), kyahan (=gaiter) and warazi (= straw sandals), and there was a sword on her waist.
Mr. Matsuo's wife danced a powerful man's dance that could not be imagined from her small body.
Mr. Matsuo's wife danced in a cool man's appearance, and a shout flew from here and there.
The combination of Mr. Matsuo and his wife still has some strange feeling in him.
Episode 74
Free movies were sometimes shown at community center.
Of course, the movie was a monochrome movie.
Color movies were just beginning to appear, but at that time color movies were called "sotenensyoku eiga (= total natural color movies)".
However, "total natural color" was soon replaced by the word "color".
The contents of the free movies at the community center were also mostly "matatabimono(= people who were gamblers and entertainers who traveled all over Japan during the Edo period)".
His father had a deep knowledge of music, but his father liked the popular singer "Taro Shoji".
"Taro Shoji" was an intelligent singer who was well-versed in Marxian economics, although he had distinctive features such as wearing Lloyd's glasses and a tailcoat, and singing in an upright and immovable posture.
Among the many hit songs of "Taro Shoji", there was a song of the story of a yakuza boss called "Akagi no Komoriuta".
Somehow we can see the tendency of Japanese entertainment tastes at that time.
♬ Akagi-yama where the man's righteousness feels the man's righteousness and the spirits hit each other.… ♬
The song of the story of the boss of the yakuza, which is not suitable for the identity of "Taro Shoji", was such lyrics.
Episode 75
He remembers that the free movie at the community center was a movie by a beautiful actor named Kokichi Takada.
The crowd at the community center gladly applauded as the film began to spin, making a peculiar noise of "chili chili chili".
Kokichi Takada was a star of the Shochiku movie.
At the opening of the Shochiku movie, the "Shochiku movie" logo appeared against the backdrop of the divine Mt. Fuji covered with snow above the clouds.
Also, in the case of Toei movies, the Toei logo gradually became larger from the distance of the angry waves that rushed to the rough shore.
As a kid, he watched free movies at the community center as something unusual and special.
The community center had an old wooden floor, and the audience sat on the floor to watch the movie, so there was no fixed number of people, so many people enjoyed the movie.
He also remembers a free movie in a nearby reinforced concrete public housing, using the concrete walls instead of screens.
They were just a little entertainment when many Japanese lived hard at the time when there was no entertainment other than radio.
Episode 76
The community center would have literally functioned as a place for local residents to interact.
Calligraphy class were also held once a week at the community center.
The teacher always came to the community center with his calligraphy tools on his bicycle.
The teacher was a kind person, and he did not give strict guidance, and he attended the calligraphy class without being particularly conscious of his progress.
The teacher silently corrected the letters written by the students with a red ink brush.
His sister didn't even attend this calligraphy class.
However, it seemed that his sister had no desire to attend calligraphy class.
The picture-story show came to the community center.
The picture-story show also came to a nearby public housing.
The picture-story show was selling Japanese cheap candy before the performance.
The uncle who plays a picture-story show covered the living expenses of selling this candy.
He always bought starch syrup.
The uncle of the picture-story show sold starch syrup attached to the tips of two sticks.
When the starch syrup was mixed with two sticks, the transparent starch syrup took in air and became muddy.
Episode 77
There was Mr. Yoshida's house near the community center.
Mr. Yoshida had three sons, and he often played with them.
Mr. Yoshida was a quiet person, and he looked like an adult who was serious about his work.
Mr. Yoshida's house was built facing Bus Street, but at one point Mr. Yoshida added a small square building using civil engineering formwork in front of his house.
Mr. Yoshida must have found a bathtub for Goemon bath somewhere and bought it or got it for free.
Then he assembled the civil engineering formwork that he used for his work and made a bathroom in no time.
He had never taken Mr. Yoshida's bath.
He went to a public bath a little away from his house.
He remembers only once when he went to the public bath with his father.
Actually, he may have been to the public bath with his father more than once, but he remembers only once.
It was winter.
He washed his body with soap and finally tried to soak his body in hot water, but his father said, "It's not good yet," and told him to warm up more.
He wanted to get out of the hot water early, but his father wouldn't forgive him.
The scene still comes to his mind 60 years later.
He remembers his father at that time when he is taking a shower.
And he guess why his father told him to warm his body so much and then get out of the bath.
He somehow now understands the reason.
Episode 78
He has only one memory of the public bath with his father, but since his father died early, there are several other events of one-time memory.
One of them is his father's words in the futon.
His father had tuberculosis and seemed to keep away from him.
At one point his father invited him into his father's huton
Perhaps his father was quite sad and invited him into the futon at this time.
"I can't always do this because I have a chest illness ..."
His father hugged him and sneaked into the huton and whispered.
" I want to do this for a while today.
Son, understand my thoughts.
Son, remember this time with me. "
Even now, 60 years later, he still holds in his heart the words of his father's regrets.
Is it a poor household because his father can't work with a sick body?
Is it painful for his father to die and part with his wife and children?
It's beyond imagination.
Episode 79
His mother was a person who had little "educational guidance" with one exception.
His mother wanted a smart child, so she married a smart man (his father).
But his mother gave little "educational guidance" to him or his sister.
It's easy to imagine that she lived a life she couldn't afford to support her sick husband and her two children.
One day he quarreled with an older boy in the neighborhood and returned crying.
His mother said, "Don't lose the fight and cry and come home."
And she once scolded him violently, saying, "Go back again to win the fight and make your opponent cry."
Episode 80
She may have been angry with her son who came home crying after losing the fight, even though she was fighting so hard in her hard life that she cried in her heart every day.
He thinks it was a strong message from his mother's life, saying, "Son, be a stronger person."
He hasn't lost a fight ever since.
After that, he quarreled with his classmates a couple of times before graduating from elementary school.
It was a series of victories.
There is no doubt that the strong guidance of his mother at that time had an effect.
And even now, the teaching of his mother at that time is deep in his soul.
Episode 81
After that his mother did not preach to him at all.
His mother was born in 1923 and died in 2014.
She passed away at the age of 91.
He was undoubtedly loved by his mother.
Episode 82
He rarely talks to anyone about his mother.
He connected the words, saying that he wouldn't talk about it in the future.
And he also said that this was the last.
"One day, when four family members were eating, his mother suddenly shouted and threw the bowl in her hand.
She was definitely angry with her husband and threw the bowl, but she threw the bowl fairly violently in the direction that the bowl did not hit her husband.
His mother's voice was only once, only for that moment.
I have no memory of how the couple's relationship was restored after that. "
Since he was a boy like "Yumeno Kyusaku (mentioned above)", he had not heard the story between the couple before the incident, so he says that only the event at that moment was strongly remembered.
"Fortunately, I have no memory of my parents' quarrels other than this incident (probably there were several others just because he didn't know ...)," he said, and then he shed tears.
Episode 83
The entrance of Mr. Sasaki's rental house was unsightly.
There was a sliding door where the family went in and out.
When they opened and closed the sliding door, it made a rattling noise and moved awkwardly.
When they opened the sliding door and stepped into the house, it was a dirt floor.
They had to go up to the tatami room from the dirt floor, but the underfloor was directly connected to the dirt floor, and the underfloor was structured so that they could go in and out at any time.
No one went under the floor, but some of his and his sister's milk teeth were thrown under the floor.
The lower teeth were thrown on the roof and the upper teeth were thrown under the floor.
It was a superstitious act of hoping that the missing milk teeth would have strong permanent teeth.
Above the space where he and his sister threw their teeth, there was a room that the family used as a living room.
Episode 84
There was a large piece of paper on the wall of the so-called living room above the space where he and his sister threw their missing milk teeth.
It was written by his father summarizing a small part of the "musical grammar" so that his younger sister could understand it.
His father did not write the scale as "Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do", but as "Ha-ni-ho-he-to-i-ro-ha".
In Japan, the name of the sound of music is generally called " Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do".
However, the name of this sound is not unique to Japan.
" Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do" was originally an Italian note name.
In fact, historically, different note name have been used in Japanese.
That was "Ha-ni-ho-he-to-i-ro-ha".
In other words, "Ha-ni-ho-he-to-i-ro-ha" is a Japanese version of " Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do ".
Episode 85
There was a handwritten staff notation on the paper.
Tadpoles were swimming in the staff notation, but tadpoles were swimming in an orderly manner.
In the "Summary Musical Grammar" written by his father, there were academic explanations such as 1-point C-sound, 2-point C-sound, or C-sound.
To put it simply, the one-point C sound is the first sound we learn in Japanese elementary school music classes.
The two-point C sound is one octave higher, and the C sound is one octave lower.
Looking at what his father wrote, he and his sister could understand the meaning of the treble clef and understand both G major and F major.
Furthermore, both a major key and a minor key were explained.
Of course, a quarter note and a eighth note were also explained, covering the academic and rudimentary knowledge of music for his sister.
There were no picture books or novels in his house (as mentioned above), so what was written on the paper was indeed a part of his father's head edited for his sister who is now learning music.
Episode 86
His father seemed to like music a lot and was probably studying.
He was born in 1920, living 100 years ago, so the world must have been much more feudal and closed.
It is difficult for modern people to imagine discrimination and prejudice against art and the kind of artists.
His father was born in that era, but there is no doubt that he had a keen interest in music.
At one point his father told him this.
"One day I heard that a playhouse was built in the town and an orchestra would come there, so I went there with my notebook and pencil.
I recorded the rhythm played by the orchestra in a notebook beside the stage. "
His memory is inaccurate, but it may have been a "melody" rather than a "rhythm", or both.
He couldn't remember the scene properly and still doesn't know the exact meaning of his father's words.
However, his father was quite interested in music, and his father probably listened to professional music, which is rarely heard in the countryside.
His father also played musical instruments on a daily basis and must have studied musical grammar.
Episode 87
At one point, it was in his memory that his sister was not yet in elementary school, his father bought a xylophone and brought it home.
Even though it was a xylophone, it had a metal tube (resonance pipe) under the keyboard to improve the quality of the sound.
He thinks his father was in the final game of his life.
With all the life left of his father, a fierce lesson of xylophone to his sister began.
It was in the category of ordinary children's lessons at the beginning.
Of course it was clear that his father had given proper guidance to his sister's age and skill level.
However, as his sister improved, his father became less satisfied with the xylophone itself, and his father's guidance to his sister became even more enthusiastic.
Episode 88
At one point, a "luxury xylophone" arrived that was not very suitable for the house where his family lived.
It wasn't a xylophone, but a marimba, which was totally different from the xylophone his sister was playing before.
In Japan, both xylophone and marimba are called "Mokkin", but they are the same type of instrument, but they are completely different instruments.
The xylophone makes a high-pitched tree sound, so audience can hear the sound even if performers play it mixed with an orchestra or brass band.
On the other hand, the marimba is an instrument with a soft and rich sound, so it is intended for solo performance.
His father said that the material for the keyboard was the roots of the native roses of the Rocky Mountains.
The marimba was such a magnificent instrument that he couldn't believe it was so common in Japan at that time.
The money needed to buy a marimba must have been given by his father's mother.
At that time, ordinary households didn't have a piano, but he still thinks that his father must have been able to buy a good piano with the money he paid to the marimba.
Episode 89
Why did his father choose "marimba"?
The reason must have been that the piano is a widely used instrument and the teaching method is established, but marimba can be taught by his father himself because the teaching method is not established.
Buying a piano is a temporary expense, but his father may have thought that his economy wouldn't be able to cover the monthly fees and other expenses.
His younger sister at the time was a girl like "Yumeno Kyusaku (mentioned above)" more than him, and the newly given expensive instrument was totally disproportionate to her.
The height of the marimba's keyboard was the height of his sister's face, and it was physically impossible for her to play the marimba.
His father ordered a carpenter to make a wooden stand with a width of marimba and a height of about 30 cm.
It had a smooth surface like foreign wood, but it was made of a thick piece of wood, and it was a sturdy platform that wouldn't break easily even if his sister moved violently while playing.
From this time on, a fierce special training by his father like Ashura began.
Episode 90
A special training for his sister was carried out every night after a meal.
Many homes did not have air conditioners at the time, so on summer nights the windows of the house were opened to let in the cool breeze outside the house.
So the sound of the marimba played by his sister every night was heard by many of his neighbors.
In addition, it was always a quiet night as there were no cars running at night.
So many people in the neighborhood knew about the marimba played by his sister.
Episode 91
At that time, his sister was in the second grade of elementary school.
Great classical music such as "For Elise", "Turkish March" and "Ren of the Donau River" played by such a girl continued every night.
He also wonders if classical music scores for marimba solos were on the market at the time.
In his imagination, his father had arranged the score written for the piano for the marimba.
His father's face when he was teaching the marimba was scaryly serious and devilish.
He thinks his father had an extraordinary determination to make his daughter a player of this instrument while he was alive.
His younger sister sometimes suddenly woke up in the middle of the night and played the marimba in a state of falling asleep.
She was nervous and practicing hard until just before her bedtime, so the uplifting state must have continued after she fell asleep.
Episode 92
His father had a Bengalese finch when his father was teaching his sister marimba.
A Bengalese finch with a mixture of white and black feathers, with a tiny object shaped like a white flower on its head.
From another point of view, there was such a cute object on the bird's head, like a plate on the head of a Kappa(=River imp).
The Bengalese finch was so accustomed because his father loved it so much.
The Bengalese finch flew around the house, making the sound of its feathers.
And when his father extended his finger into the air, the Bengalese finch flew to that finger and grabbed it.
Episode 93
The food for the Bengalese finch was millet.
His father put the millet with thin skin in an empty 1 sho bottle (=1.8 liters) and inserted the drumstick upside down to poke the millet.
The drumstick was used by his father as a tool to hit the desk to get the rhythm when his sister practiced the marimba.
But his father later bought a metronome.
His father used the drumstick, which was no longer needed, as a tool for preparing bird food.
When the millet was struck by a drumstick, it made a "crispy" sound.
The millet was not crushed and only the thin skin was conveniently peeled off.
Occasionally, the millet with skin was fed to the Bengalese finch as it was, but a lot of millet skin accumulated in the cage, and every time the Bengalese finch flapped, the millet skin flew out of the cage.
Bengalese finch dexterously used a bill to peel the millet skin and ate only the fruit.
The millet skin was removed while spinning around in the bill of the Bengalese finch.
Episode 94
His father lost his own father early and was unable to enroll in (prewar) middle school for financial reasons.
So he went to a short-term private school specializing in office work and became an employee of the Japanese National Railways.
His father was drafted by the Japanese Army when he was an employee of the Japanese National Railways.
There was a picture of his father wearing military uniform and laughing in front of a tank.
His father didn't talk about the war other than his " passing the physical examination as a Grade One conscript ".
His father in the picture certainly had a good body.
It was far from the image of a lean Japanese living during the war, when food was scarce.
His father didn't talk about the specific war, but it may just be that he doesn't remember.
Episode 95
His father was disappointed that when he returned from the battlefield, the fine Japanese sword he had at home was gone.
It is doubtful that his father's mother, who had been married from another family, certainly understood the meaning of the Japanese sword that has been passed down from ancient times.
His father's mother was a serious Japanese, so she seems to have offered the Japanese sword at home for the emperor.
It was due to the Metals Recovery Ordinance that his father's mother offered the treasure sword of the house.
The Metals Recovery Ordinance was an edict enacted for the purpose of recovering metals owned by the public and private sectors in order to make up for the shortage of metal resources required for weapons production from the Sino-Japanese War to the Pacific War.
In other words, it was the command of the emperor, the god.
His father said that his father's ancestors were warriors of the Heike clan, who fled to this land after losing the battle between the Genji clan and the Heike clan.
"In the Edo period, my ancestors were shoya(=village headman), and my family was a branch of that," his father said.
There was a fine sword that proved the history of the family, but it seemed that his father's mother offered it to the army while his father went to war.
Episode 96
And his father met and married his mother, who was introduced by a classmate after the war.
His mother's ideal marriage partner was a "smart person," but perhaps his mother also liked the appearance of his father.
His father had been steadily promoted to work for the Japanese National Railways while enjoying baseball and music during his newlywed era, but at one point he retired.
His father, who left the Japanese National Railways, built a new house on a part of his wife's parents' land.
His father boasted that the new house was entirely made of hinoki cypress lumber.
The cost of building the house seemed to be covered by severance pay.
His father wasn't mandatory retirement, so the severance pay was high enough to build his parents' new home, but it's still questionable.
His mother's parents' home was burned by the American air raid, so there must have been enough ground to build his parents' home.
Episode 97
His mother started running a popular dining hall there.
His mother cooked and served herself.
He wore "Kintaro's bib", which was often used to prevent the baby's belly from getting cold at that time, and sat in a corner of the popular dining hall to watch his mother and customers.
The toddler who always wore "Kintaro's bib" was so lovely that the customers were very happy and he was the mascot of the popular dining hall.
His mother was so enthusiastic about her work that she didn't seem to be able to take care of him and was injured by the rubber ring holding his socks digging into the flesh of his leg.
The wound was noticed by the time he was conscious and asked his mother to find out the cause.
He doesn't confirm the scar because it's about himself, but it's still clearly below the knee of his left foot.
Right in front of his mother's popular dining hall was the city's most advanced and large-scale "central hospital," so the popular dining hall thrived with its inpatients, their families, or hospital personnel.
Episode 98
The popular dining hall run by his mother was so prosperous that the household was good enough to live.
However, his father, who left the Japanese National Railways, did not find a job in a local city, and even if he did, it was not the company he wanted.
Although the family economy is fine, he speculates that his father, still in early thirties, wasn't happy with the situation.
His family stopped the thriving popular dining hall and headed for Osaka.
His sister was born in Osaka.
His sister was born 22 months after him, but maybe his sister was already in her mother when the family headed for Osaka.
Episode 99
His father named his younger sister, born in Osaka, "Miho".
He heard from his father that there was a fine musician named "Miho" when his sister was born.
It is clear that his father wanted his sister to have a future like that musician .
The character "mi" is a composite Chinese character of "sheep" and "large", meaning "beautiful" because ancient Chinese people felt that a large sheep was beautiful.
The character "ho" is a composite Chinese character of "rice" and "grace", which means the part where the fruit of the stem of the grain bears.
Therefore, "Miho" brings to mind the image of "beautiful rice ears".
This is a new sensation as a girl's name in post-war Japan, giving a glimpse of his father's feelings for his own daughter.
Episode 100
The misfortune of the family began in Osaka.
His father worked for a company in Osaka, where he got tuberculosis.
He hasn't heard the cause clearly, but imagines it was probably overwork, malnutrition, or both.
Tuberculosis was the leading cause of death in Japan during the 15 years from 1935 to 1950.
The disease, also known as "Illness of the exiled country" has declined dramatically since then, but tuberculosis was the greatest failure of his father's life.
And four of him, his parents and his sister, leave Osaka.
His memory begins shortly after his family returned from Osaka.
Episode 101
His words when he came back from Osaka seemed to be completely Osaka dialect.
He heard that he found a dragonfly that he had never seen in the city of Osaka and shouted "a small helicopter is flying" in the Osaka dialect.
His memory of his father begins in the hospital bed, but is a rather vague memory.
He imagines that his father had been hospitalized and discharged repeatedly.
And his father was riding a "Batabata" when he was discharged from the hospital.
As the name suggests, "Batabata" was a powered bicycle that made a "batabata" sound.
"Batabata" was a reliable companion to his father who had lost his strength.
His father wore a thick brown leather jumper in the winter and was riding a "Batabata".
Episode 102
No doubt his father thought he couldn't live long.
His father was worried about the life of his wife and child after he died.
The Japanese National Railways was a large company run by the Japanese government at the time, so it had a welfare pension system, but his father's working period was not enough to qualify for the "survivor's pension".
His father joined the Asahi Shimbun to meet the shortage period.
He doesn't know what his father was doing in the Asahi Shimbun, but at that time his father was riding a "Batabata".
The "Batabata" was probably the "Batabata" owned by the Asahi Shimbun.
Episode 103
The motorized bicycle Batabata, which was developed by Honda's founder Soichiro Honda in the 1945's and became a big hit, was manufactured using the generator engine of the old military transceiver.
This Batabata was the beginning of the history of "Honda," which became a major company in the world.
In 1946, a bicycle ran through the city of Hamamatsu with a loud noise.
There was a woman in Monpe on the bicycle, who was Mr. Honda's wife.
A hot water bottle was attached to the rear of the bicycle, which contained pine oil instead of gasoline.
This is the first "vehicle" made by Soichiro Honda.
This bicycle with an engine became very popular in the burnt field, and the engine made a loud "batabata" sound, so it got its name.
Batabata that his father was riding also made a loud engine noise, but it was nice.
The appearance of his father wearing a leather jacket and going to work on a Batabata was cool.
However, his father was already weak, so he must have endured the cold of winter.
His father must have endured the cold to make up for the shortage of the "survivor's pension".
Episode 104
It was around 4 o'clock in the early morning of January 7, 1962, when he was 10 years old.
He was awakened by his mother.
"Go to the hospital and bring Dr. Tanimura," his mother said.
His father lay suffocating in the futon.
He saw the situation and understood his mother's order.
The distance from his house to Tanimura Hospital was about 2km.
There was no phone in his house or in the neighborhood.
At that time, cars were still unpurchasable to the common people, so roads were undeveloped and there were almost no traffic signal.
He was a timid boy who was afraid of darkness like other boys.
His sense of mission outweighed his cowardice because of his mother's an unusual attitude.
Under the pitch-dark night sky, he left the house on a bicycle.
Episode 105
He called out to the nurse in the building from the small courtyard of the hospital.
He thought there was a nurse there because only one room was lit in the hospital.
Two nurses on the night shift opened the window and listened to him.
The two nurses were clearly confused as they listened to the child's speech.
He has no memory of how he communicated the crisis to the two nurses.
Dr. Tanimura came to his house shortly after he returned home.
In fact, he felt that he had been waiting for a doctor for a long time, and he was really worried about whether doctor would really come.
Episode 106
Dr. Tanimura came.
His hard-working request was passed on to the two nurses, who also told the doctor who was supposed to be sleeping.
The doctor gave a camphor injection.
After that, the doctor only looked at his father, and he didn't seem to be enthusiastic about his efforts.
Perhaps his father was in a critical situation that even a doctor couldn't handle
His father didn't say anything at the time of his death.
His father must have had a lot to say, but at the time of his death he had no words.
Even his father had already lost that power.
His father died.
Episode 107
The funeral was attended by his parents' brothers and sisters and their spouses.
He suspects that they gave kind words to his poor mother and her poor two children.
But soon the harsh life of her mother and her two children began.
Meanwhile, a relative of Mr. Sasaki, a name fortune-teller (mentioned above), fortune-telled his father's name.
And the bogus fortune-teller concluded that his father's name was ominous and short-lived.
And the fortune-teller said that his sister's name was also ominous.
He is a relative of that "Sho-chan" who was renamed from "Naoki" to "Shoich".
His mother, who had just lost her husband and was feeling weak, changed the name of her daughter as recommended by the fortune-teller.
Episode 108
No one knows if his sister was due to the name change, but 60 years after that, she is still alive and well.
On the other hand, the result of fortune-telling about his name was that it was not bad enough to change his name.
Naming a baby born in this world is called "meimei" in Japanese.
It is literally the name of life.
Rather, he thinks it is the name of the soul based on his experience of living for 70 years.
In Buddhism, "Dharma name" is given as the posthumous name.
Being given a Dharma name means "become a disciple of the Buddha and go to the Paradise Jodo without hesitation."
And the Dharma name is also written on the mortuary tablets and tombstones.
He follows the Buddhist tradition of his parents' Dharma names, but thinks that if the soul of a person is immortal, the name after death should also use the name of this world.
He doesn't think that many modern Japanese people will be happy in the afterlife with the Dharma name.
However, as a 10-year-old child, he accepted even the meaning of his sister's name change with little understanding.
Episode 109
A year after his father died, he was in fifth grade in elementary school.
At the graduation ceremony that year, he read "Soji(=Words to send graduates)" as a representative of current students.
That meant that the purpose of his mother's marriage to his father became a reality.
However, his mother worked hard every day, she never came on his or his sister's sankanbi(=the day parents observe their children at school).
His homeroom teacher complained to him when he was in the fifth grade of elementary school.
"What an indifferent parent your parent is," said the female teacher.
This female teacher loved him so much that she had invited him to a newly-married family with her husband.
She holds a stake in a bus company that currently dominates the local transportation industry because of the promising future, and she talked about the economy, assuming he had the same knowledge as her.
Even so, his mother was doing her best to support the family's household budget.
So he didn't complain to his mother, nor did he convey the words of his teacher to his mother.
The female teacher would have frankly vomit her heart to him.
At that time, the women were at home, and there was no place for women to work except for a bar for men.
Episode 110
Due to such a musical environment, he has always had the highest evaluation of music at school, from elementary school to his final education.
Of course he didn't study for the exam, but the paper exam for music until the final school was almost perfect.
When he was in sixth grade, he was called by a music teacher.
The teacher ordered him to join the chorus club and play the contrabass in the instrumental ensemble club.
The teacher was single but enthusiastic about music education, and the instrumental ensemble club of the elementary school where he works won the prefectural competition every year.
The instrumental ensemble club of the elementary school at that time had a large number of harmonica, and was composed of inexpensive musical instruments as a whole.
Among them, the contrabass was a prominent and a little expensive instrument.
Episode 111
During the summer vacation of his sixth grade, a music teacher ordered him to attend a violin class.
The teacher paid for the class.
Of course he didn't have a violin and never played.
The violin was prepared for him by his teacher.
He thinks the teacher wanted him to study more music.
He was already vaguely thinking about going the musical path at that time.
At the entrance ceremony, the brass band club of the junior high school played "Kimigayo" and "School song".
He was very disappointed to hear it.
He decided that he couldn't spend the next three years after school in junior high school in this brass band.
Very ephemeral, his path to his own music was cut off at this entrance ceremony.
Episode 112
He began writing this memoir on August 12, 2021.
He had a new thought while writing his memoirs.
It's an idea of what would have happened to the lives of him and his sister if his father had bought a piano instead of a marimba at that time.
He was disappointed with the brass band club in junior high school and closed the way to music.
His sister was completely cut off from being a marimba player due to the death of her father.
He then spent his childhood hoping to play the piano several times.
He bought a piano when he grew up and had a family.
The purpose was to have his two daughters learn the piano, but at the same time he taught himself the piano.
Piano pieces played by the two daughters were heard every day around the altar where his father's soul was enshrined.
One of his daughters won the highest award at a junior high school piano competition in the prefecture.
He was thinking of sending his two daughters to a music college, but in an interview with a local newspaper when his daughter received the award, she said, "I want to be a veterinarian in the future."
He thought that the days of requiescats prayer for his father were over at this time.
He himself finished practicing the piano instruction book (Bayer).
Now he is the same as the average person when it comes to music.
In fact, he had another daughter after that.
He didn't want his youngest daughter to learn the piano.
In him, "the music memorial service" to his father was completely over.
Episode 113
He got to work in the next town at the beginning of April this year, shortly before his 70th birthday.
It's a job only in the morning.
He was asked to work by a certain person, and he was a little happy to be asked, so he received the request.
It was a promise of half a year's work, so he quit his job at the end of September and lived leisurely in an apartment near the sea.
However, his successor soon quit, and he was asked to work again.
So he has been going to work again from the beginning of December to the next town.
In fact, for the past two months he hasn't had a car and has been biking for various errands of his own.
But he thought it would be a little unreasonable for his age to commute to the next town in the north wind or in the cold rain.
So he bought an old, small and cheap car and started commuting in that car.
The duration of his work this time is expected to be two to three months, but he sincerely hopes that the term will end sooner.
He doesn't have much physical strength or energy anymore.
Episode 114
There is a chair beside his bed in the apartment room where he spends his days.
There are always seven books and a magazine on the chair.
The seven books and one magazine are his zayunosyo(=desk-side book).
The magazine was bought at a popular second-hand bookstore for 200 yen, and is a digest of news published by a famous American broadcaster, with a CD of about 70 minutes.
He doesn't know how many times he listened to the CD, but he always listens to it when he wakes up in the middle of the night or early in the morning, so he sleeps again while listening to the CD, so he rarely listens through the 70-minute content.
One of the seven books is an old book about the ancient history of the area where he lives.
A book published long before he was born, the paper quality is poor, the quality of the printing ink is poor, and there are some unreadable parts, but it is a book that has been studied from a broad perspective and scientifically.
In addition, since the Chinese characters is the old Chinese characters and not the "Toyō kanji(=regular-use Chinese characters)" currently used, it takes a little energy to read.
He finds great value in the history book and wants the people in the area where he lives to know what is written in it, so he uses the difficult Chinese characters as they are and distributes them over the Internet.
Of course he is sure that the book is not copyrighted.
Episode 115
This history book is a book compiled and published long ago, and since he reads it frequently, it puts stress on the body of the book.
He treated the book carefully so that it wouldn't be destroyed, but one day the history book was finally disassembled.
He got this book as a secondhand book because this history book was published long before he was born.
This secondhand book was priced at a justified value for this book
He hadn't fully used the value of the book when it broke.
So he somehow thought about reviving the body of the book.
He searched for paper of similar quality to the paper used in book.
Using paper and glue, he patiently regenerated from one detail to the next.
Repairing and refurbishing books was something he had never thought of before.
Episode 116
The other of the seven books is an English-Japanese dictionary that he bought at a second-hand bookstore (He bought the magazine mentioned above) for 500 yen.
Even if it is a book that someone bought once, we can buy the enormous amount of human knowledge and work written in the dictionary for only 500 yen.
The English-Japanese dictionary looked like new when he bought it, but now it's dirty and there are a lot of underlines drawn with a red pen when turning the page.
Just the other day, the spine of this English-Japanese dictionary came off, and several sheets of paper came off the main body of the dictionary.
He thought about going to a second-hand bookstore again to buy another English-Japanese dictionary, but now that it has become a very attached dictionary, he decided to repair it in the same way as a history book.
The repair of the dictionary was completed immediately because it was not difficult to repair than the history book.
When he picked up the dictionary, it was heavy and revived into a well-shaped dictionary.
He was very satisfied.
It seems that he wants his English-Japanese dictionary to be placed in his casket, just as his mother put the non-professional baseball uniform of the Japanese National Railways in his father's casket.
He thinks that even in the afterlife, if there is an English-Japanese dictionary, he can live without getting bored.
Episode 117
He studied at a national technical college a long time ago.
At that time, there was a young teacher who lectured on Western philosophy.
The teacher always carried an English-Japanese dictionary with him when he lectured on Western philosophy.
The teacher used the English-Japanese dictionary like a Japanese dictionary to show off his English ability.
For example, when the teacher described Socrates' wife, he opened Xanthippe in an English-Japanese dictionary.
And the teacher said, "She was the wife of Socrates, very noisy in legend, she was always supposed to be swearing at her husband, and she was said to be a bad wife."
"Christianity" was a big theme in the Western philosophy that the teacher lectured.
He actively read Western classic novels at the time.
At that time, "Christianity" was still a big issue.
He is reading the Bible now.
He wants to finish reading the Bible once by the time he dies.
The Bible is one of his seven books.
His mother often described his character as "yakan-tagiri".
"Yakan-tagiri" means that it gets hot quickly but cools down quickly.
He remains "yakan-tagiri" from an early age to the present age.
Will his enthusiasm cool down first, or will his life run out first?
Finally
Soon the death anniversary of his father, his sister's father, and his mother's husband will come.
It's been 60 years since that day.
That's all.
Recollection from Episode 70 to Episode 117
